In 1661, the population of New France consisted of about 2,500 souls, most of them men who were having a frightful time defending themselves against recurring attacks by Iroquois.French casualties were high and the settlers discouraged.A decision had to be made to support and defend New France with troops and emigrants or abandon the idea of colonization all together.

It was with the intervention of King Louis XIV, that beneficial change came about.In 1662, he sent out two ships with a hundred soldiers and nearly two hundred settlers to the colony.The following year, one hundredforty-nine more colonists arrived in Québec, of which thirty-eight were young women of marriagable age known as les Filles du Roi.These women were the first of approximately 774 who would arrive within the next ten years.

They were not all saints, but there were more saints than sinners.It is with their courage and determinationthat the people known as French Canadians were founded.